Lucky
by xfmoon
Summary: Someone needs some luck.


**Spoilers: **Takes place after the season 1 finale so spoilers for everything. And for something Elizabeth Henstridge said regarding her character in season 2.

**Disclaimer:** I consider myself fairly lucky overall, but not so lucky that I own the rights to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

* * *

_"No, no, no, what are you doing with that?"_ Jemma asked popping her head out of the door. She'd seen them walk by through the window of the room she now seldom left.

_"We're just.. we're just removing it from the Bus."_ Said the two rookie S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and looked at her, then each other with uncertainty. She had watched them carrying stuff back and forth all morning. They were both men, one were dark haired, in his early 20s she guessed, he was tall and lanky, the other a lot older and a bit chubby with waves in his light brown hair. There had been a lot of hustle and bustle at the playground now that Coulson was director and rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D. from the ground up, his plans coming along slowly but with ease. Skye had been updating her regularly. But most days she didn't really care one way or the other. And rarely was she seen approaching the new recruits. But this was different.

_"Here." _Jemma said and held out her arms. _"I'll take it, you can give it to me."_

Again they looked at her hesitantly. _"We have orders to take it to..."_

_"It's mine.."_ She interrupted. _"Ours.."_ She said in a more hushed tone and gestured back into the room behind her. When they didn't budge she tried another tactic to persuade them. _"Who gave you the orders? Coulson? He won't mind, really."_

_"Director Coulson?" _The youngest one said as if he couldn't believe she'd called him just Coulson, as if there were any mistaken who she was talking about. He shook it of quickly though and then clarified. _"No, no it was Agent Campbell. We should check with him first."_

Jemma sighed. _"Can't you just leave it here while you ask? It's not like I'm going to take a plane and fly away with it somewhere." _Where would she go? And it wasn't as if she had any clue how you got the thing of the ground in the first place, but of course they didn't know that so saying she wouldn't go anywhere only helped her look more suspicious in their eyes.

Still they looked at each other and shrugged not knowing what to make of her. _"I guess we could do that."_ The tall one said, while the other eyed her doubtfully and whispered just a little too loudly so that she still could hear it. _"But our orders, we have our orders."_

_"Please."_ Her voice broke a little. And she scolded herself for displaying weakness.

For half a minute they just stood there, dumbfounded. Then they started to walk away, box in hand.

_"Wait."_ She said, but they continued. They didn't know her, why would they listen.

Before they rounded the corner they ran into Skye.

_"What's going on here?"_ She asked as she was coming towards them and saw the defeated look on Simmons face.

_"Agent Skye."_ They greeted her. _"Agent Campbell asked us to clean out the Bus. We were just taking this to the lab." _They explained.

Skye looked at the glass box then at Simmons. _"Here I can take that."_

_"But.. but.."_ The light haired one stammered.

_"Don't worry about Campbell, I'll talk to him, just continue with whatever you were doing."_ After a few moments considerations they gave her the container, and went back to the Bus to retrieve some new ones.

Skye went over to where Simmons was standing and handed her the box. _"Here's your rat."_

_"Thank you."_ Jemma said beaming at her gratefully. _"They wouldn't listen to me, but they seem to respect you."_

Skye shrugged. _"It's only 'cause they know I know Coulson." _

_"And they don't know me." _Jemma said thoughtfully.

_"Well, they probably know of you. You and Fitz have quite the reputation. If you listen to the water cooler talk you're both quite the heroes."_ Jemma blushed and Skye smiled at her friend, thinking her embarrassed of the praise when in fact she felt guilty. Guilty for having survived relatively unscathed, for taking that oxygen tank and depriving him of the chance to live. What made her more special? His love. That was it. What a paradox. She had been more loved than she had known and right now it was slowly killing her.

Skye interrupted her train of thought._ "But you're right it's not like you're very visible in the everyday picture."_

Jemma didn't answer, didn't know what to say so instead she hurried back into the room with the box. The place had become her sanctuary.

Skye followed her in. _"How's he doing today?"_ She asked.

_"The same."_ Jemma said, her voice dropping to the sad tone that Skye had come to associate with the present sluggish demeanour of the British woman.

_"So what's with the rat?"_ Skye questioned to change the subject.

_"It's Lucky."_ Jemma said.

Skye raised an eyebrow._ "How's that?"_ She questioned looking at the creature happily gnawing on a grape. _"Is it some kind of British thing? Like a horseshoe or a rabbits foot? 'cause it doesn't look particularly lucky to me."_

Jemma waved at her dismissively. _"No, no. That's not what I meant. It's the rat's name."_

_"You named your lab rat?"_

_"Fitz did."_ Jemma said and glanced at the unmoving form in the bed.

_"Really?" _Skye sounded surprised, though she really shouldn't be, they named everything else in that lab, why not the rats. But one look at Simmons told her that this particular rat was special.

_"Yeah. He didn't even want me to take them in the first place. Not really into rodents, more of a primate type."_

_"I noticed."_ Skye smiled and nodded at the table filled with toy monkeys in various shapes and sizes.

_"Did you know he almost asked Fury for a monkey assistant, if I hadn't stopped him..."_ Jemma shook her head. _"Anyways this little fellow,"_ She looked at the white rat with affection _"..was the one that survived the Chitauri virus, so Fitz decided to call him Lucky. And he must be. He survived both Agent Hand's attack on the Bus - not a single bullet went through his glass case - and Hydra and..."_ She trailed off, not wanting to remind neither Skye nor herself of Ward.

Skye didn't say anything. So they silently watched the rat run around in its cage for a bit, while contemplating their situation. Until Simmons had had enough silence and felt she needed to vent, so she went on explaining what had happened earlier.

_"I've been sitting here watching them all morning hauling out my microscopes, and test tubes, and all of Fitz's tools. And I saw Lucky and I just couldn't bear the thought that he would be put somewhere with other lab rats and we might never see him again. He's special. And, and..."_ She sucked in a breath her voice coming out shaky as she continued. _"I thought we could use some of his luck in here."_

Jemma breathed out and a sob escaped her lips. So far she had played it tough, though everybody knew she was hurting, and had been waiting for months for her to break down. And though Skye was a little startled by her sudden breakdown she gently put a hand on Jemma's back and rubbed it up and down a few times before more sobs followed and Jemma began crying. So Skye pulled her into a big hug.

_"I'm sorry, I'm being irrational."_ Jemma said through her tears. _"It's just, it's been months and nothing's changed."_

_"It will."_ Skye said with a confidence that made Jemma want to believe her. _"I'm sure a bit of Lucky's luck will rub off on him."_

After a while Jemma untangled herself and sat down.

_"Do you want me to stay?"_ Skye asked.

_"It's not necessary. I'll be fine."_ She insisted.

Although sceptical as to the validity of her statement Skye left her alone with Fitz and Lucky for company.

Jemma watched as the furry, little, white rat pranced around in his glass cage squeaking delighted every time it found something edible. A creature without a care in the world, she thought.

_"Look Fitz, Lucky is here." _

She got no other answer than the familiar steady beeping of machinery.

She looked over at the bed and her gaze landed on the little table next to it and the array of stuffed monkeys on it that people had brought with them. The small one on the far left was 3 different shades of grey. Technically it was hers, but for the moment though it belonged to him. He'd given it to her when they were still at the academy, which seemed like a very long time ago now.

She went over and took the stuffed toy into her hands, turned it, looked at it. _"He's no monkey I know."_ She said meaning Lucky, then she placed her monkey on the bed next to him. _"But you have a few of these waiting for you to wake up."_ She tried.

Nothing. She'd never known silence to be this deafening before now.

_"I'll take you to the nearest zoo. Or ask Coulson for a real monkey. Which kind would you like?"_

Beep, beep, beep.

_"Lucky needs you to take care of him."_

She took his hand, looked at his serene face.

_"I need you."_

Defeated she sat down in what had become her chair.

_"Please." _She said before she placed her head on the mattress next to his hand and drifted off.

Jemma wasn't superstitious, but she couldn't help thinking that the rat that saved her life once could do it again by saving him, somehow. She just had to stay positive and luck would come her way.

Fast asleep she didn't see Lucky looking at a hand the twitched slightly a few times, hoping that that meant feeding time and that more grapes were coming his way.

* * *

**A/N:** I had no idea where I was going with this after I rescued Lucky from the new agents.

Added the last line pretty late, I just couldn't leave them hanging like that, those poor little dears.

Initially I wanted to do something with them taking the rats on the Bus in the first place somtime around the pilot, but that didn't work out very well, so instead I'm giving you rats - well technically only one rat - at the end.

And I know nothing about rats/lab rats.

Not long now until we know what's gonna happen to our poor, brave Fitz... excited and scared!


End file.
